Lehigh English Department Graduate Student Blog

Author: Wade Linebaugh

Recently, current Lehigh English Department Ph.D. candidates and sole staffers of ‘Merica Magazine Ed Simon (Editor and Founder) and Wade Linebaugh (Assistant Editor) sat down to discuss their joint venture, graduate school, public humanities, and the finer points of laundry etiquette. Their banter has been edited for length and clarity. WL: So the properly ‘merican thing to do would be to start with our origin myth, right? What made the whole thing start?

Yesterday, I wrote an open letter to the Provost of the University of Southern Maine, my alma mater. USM is in the process of imposing a disastrous package of cuts including the layoffs of a dozen tenured and tenure-track junior faculty. My own English Department, which even after the years since I’ve graduated still feels like my academic home, was hit hard. Others—including economics, sociology and theatre—were also targeted. And I am filled to bursting […]